Deadline: The deadline for the 2012 competition is closed. Please stay tuned to this website for further competition updates.
Past Winners:
2011 Distinguished Research Professors
2010 Distinguished Research Professors
2009 Dist. Research Professors
The SIUE Distinguished Research Professor is an academic rank awarded to SIUE faculty members in order to recognize outstanding and sustained contributions to research and creative activities.
All SIUE tenured members of the faculty who have held the rank of Professor at SIUE for at least five years are eligible for this recognition.
The Distinguished Research Professor rank recognizes faculty members who have made an outstanding contribution to research as a result of their continued commitment to scholarship beyond the period of their promotion to Professor. Recipients of the Award will be recognized with the rank of "SIUE Distinguished Research Professor" for the duration of their tenure at SIUE. The recipients will be officially listed as “Distinguished Research Professor of [name of academic discipline].”
Recipients of the rank of “Distinguished Research Professor” will receive a $1,000 increase in their academic year base salary. They will also be provided with a full semester of Assigned Time for Research, at a time to be negotiated with their department chair and school/college dean. Additionally, recipients of the “Distinguished Research Professor” rank will receive a medallion to be worn with their academic regalia, and their names will be placed on a plaque displayed in the Rendleman Building.
Although up to two awards may be given each year, the rank will be awarded only in years in which there are deserving applicants. The SIUE Distinguished Research Professor recognition will not be given automatically; it will only be awarded to nominees demonstrating superior merit.
Completed applications are due in the Graduate School by 4:30 p.m. on the due date. The completed application should consist of the following:
1) A completed cover sheet (Click Here).
2) A detailed introductory description, of no more than five (5) pages, supplying evidence of the significance of the research or creative activity, and the level of sustained activity at the rank of Professor. The description should highlight activities that demonstrate a sustained commitment to scholarship subsequent to the nominee’s promotion to full professor.
Examples of research or creative activity achievements are the following:
• extensive involvement in externally-sponsored research;
• significant published research results;
• nationally recognized exhibits, productions, or publications;
• nationally significant papers presented;
• significant impact of the scholarship upon the discipline;
• mentoring of students and faculty in research or creative activities;
• significant service to professional organizations.
3) A minimum of five letters of support for the application that address the applicant’s sustained contribution to research scholarship and/or creative activities. At lease three of the letters should come from faculty and/or distinguished colleagues from outside the University. One of the remaining letters must be from the applicant’s department chair.
4) COS Expertise Profile
Please submit an up-to-date copy of your Community of Science (COS) Expertise Profile. Please note: use of the COS profile is strongly encouraged but not required. Reviewers will use your completed COS Expertise Profile instead of a traditional curriculum vitae. Curriculum vitae will also be accepted. If you need assistance completing or updating your Profile, please contact Patience Graybill Condellone or Susan Morgan.
5) Relevant Appendices in support of the application. These may include selected samples of publications or other works since promotion to full professor.
The Graduate Dean will appoint a review committee consisting of at least one faculty member at the rank of Professor from each School or College. The review committee shall assume responsibility for reviewing applications and making recommendations for the SIUE Distinguished Research Professor Award to the Graduate Dean. The evaluation of nominees will include, but is not limited to, consideration of the following:
• the record of research or creative activity that is original and that the nominee has sustained while at the academic rank of Professor;
• the significance of the nominee's work to the discipline; and
• the extent to which the nominee is recognized not only by colleagues, but also by distinguished scholars in the field.
The review committee will recommend to the Graduate Dean only those nominees who have made a significant and sustained contribution to the scholarship of the discipline.
Research is broadly defined as all creative, critical, scholarly, and/or empirical activity that expands, clarifies, reorganizes, or develops knowledge or artistic perception. This definition of research includes the demonstration, implementation, application, and dissemination of research results. The definition of research includes the scholarship of discovery, the scholarship of application, the scholarship of integration, and the scholarship of teaching. This definition of research does not include departmental curriculum development, faculty development (learning an established technique, a language, or a methodology; dissertation research), institutional research (studies related directly to the operation of the University), and public service and consulting activities.
*The above dates are approximate and will change to first business day thereafter if the date happens to fall on a weekend.
Dr. Richard Brugam, 2012 Distinguished Research Professor of Biological Sciences
Dr. Richard (Dick) Brugam earned the title of Distinguished Research Professor through his significant contributions to the field of paleolimnology, or the study of lake sediment cores to uncover the historical record of environments. Dr. Brugam earned his Ph.D. from Yale University, where he learned to combine his interest in lake sediments as ecological and climactic records with his interest in the interactions between humans and their environments. From his early study of Linsley Pond in North Branford, CT to his current interests in Horseshoe Lake in Granite City, he has established himself as a significant contributor to the field of paleolimnology and the role ancient diatoms and other particles play in illustrating human impact on the environment.
In the words of a colleague at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, “[Dr. Brugam] pioneered the research approach to investigate human-disturbance history using pollen and diatom records from lake sediments. This approach is a unique and powerful contribution from paleoecology, and it continues to be widely used by ecologists all over the world.” Since his promotion to full professorship in 1989, Dr. Brugam has let very few years pass by without publishing. His contributions have covered a varied list of topics, including vegetation change, human disturbance, climate change, nutrient recycling, and mining and lead impacts, as well as interdisciplinary topics such as lead studies and the ancient Cahokian culture’s impact on the environment. His research has garnered external support in the form of both grants and contracts from places like the NSF, the U.S. Bureau of Mines, and the Illinois EPA. He has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Paleolimnology for the past 16 years. Amidst all of his active research interests, Dr. Brugam has remained dedicated to the teacher-scholar model and often involves graduate and undergraduate students in his research endeavors, presentations, and publications.
Describing Dr. Brugam’s dedication to the field, an SIUE colleague notes, “there is no evidence that he has slowed down since becoming a full professor. This is an inspiration to me, even if it makes me feel tired: just when I think I might slow down a little, here comes Dick with another great idea.” It is for this rigorous dedication to research and the sharing of ecological knowledge that he has been named winner of this award.
It is with great pleasure that we congratulate Dr. Richard Brugam, the 2012 Distinguished Research Professor of Biological Sciences.Keqin Gu, 2012 Distinguished Research Professor of Mechanical Engineering
The 2012 Distinguished Research Professor Award recognizes Dr. Keqin Gu for his contributions to the engineering field of control systems, particularly on the topic of time delay systems. In the course of his career, Dr. Gu has not only made consistent contributions to the theory of control and, especially systems with time delay, he has earned an international reputation as one of the top experts in the stability of time delay systems. Time delay systems theory, while rooted in engineering, has many applications, including communication networks, manufacturing systems, biology, and economic systems. Not long after his promotion to Professor in 2002, Dr. Gu published the monograph “Stability of Time Delay Systems” that has since been a primary reference and regularly cited by others. He is further known for a method called “Gu’s Discretization,” a theory that led one colleague at Telaviv University to rank Dr. Gu “among the top five scientists in the time delay area.”
In the years since his promotion to Professor, Dr. Gu has maintained a consistent and effective voice in his field. Since promotion, Dr. Gu has published one monograph, one edited volume, eight book chapters, four book reviews, 20 journal papers, and 23 conference papers. He was invited to write a survey paper by the guest editor in a special issue for the ASME Journal of Dynamical Systems, Measurement and Control, and organized workshops and served as a guest editor on special issues on this topic. Dr. Gu’s reputation has earned him key editorial positions in two prestigious journals in control systems. He has been an invited keynote or plenary speaker and has served on the program committee for several national and international conferences.
Dr. Gu’s reputation also precedes him as a modest but highly respected colleague. As Dean Hasan Sevim of the School of Engineering writes, “Keqin is one of the most collegial people at SIUE. The modesty he exhibits is typical of those scholars who thoroughly enjoy their occupations and do not seek recognition other than the pure joy of observing that others use their contributions in the field of study…. I find Keqin well-qualified and deserving [of the Distinguished Research Professor Award], not only for his excellence in scholarship, but also for his teaching, service, collegiality, and overall intellectual capacity.”
It is with great pleasure that we congratulate Dr. Keqin Gu, 2012 Distinguished Research Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
